Silver could have sent a strong message Saturday by suspending Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling while the NBA investigates whether it was, indeed, Sterling making racist and offensive comments on an audiotape obtained by TMZ, Instead, he hid behind due process, continuing the NBA's longstanding practice of failing to confront Sterling and his racist behavior.

"All members of the NBA family should be afforded due process and a fair opportunity to present their side of any controversy," Silver said.

Let me make this clear: There is no "side" to this. If Sterling is the man on the audiotape, Silver should ban him from the NBA immediately. And permanently

Silver may not be able to force Sterling to sell the Clippers. But he can – and should – make it clear that Sterling and his reprehensible beliefs are no longer welcome in the NBA. If the new commissioner doesn't have the stomach to do that, then the other 29 owners must step up.

As LeBron James put it so eloquently, "There's no room for Donald Sterling in the NBA — there is no room for him."

In the nearly 10-minute recording, posted on TMZ's website late Friday night, a man chastises his girlfriend for posting pictures with Magic Johnson and other minorities on Instagram. He also tells her not to bring the Lakers Hall of Famer to Clippers games.

"Yeah, it bothers me a lot that you want to promo, broadcast that you're associating with black people. Do you have to?" the man said.

Never mind that the woman herself is a minority.

The NBA isn't throwing Sterling under the bus yet, though it has promised a "full investigation" and Silver promised during his news conference in Memphis, that it would be swift. In the meantime, Silver said, Sterling has agreed not to attend Sunday's Clippers game at Golden State.

That's a start. But it's not nearly enough.

Frankly, it never should have come to this. The NBA should have distanced itself from Sterling and his toxic views long ago.

He's been sued twice by the U.S. Department of Justice for discriminatory rental practices, paying a then-record $2.73 million penalty to settle the second case. Former Clippers general manager Elgin Baylor described Sterling as having a "plantation mentality" during his unsuccessful age discrimination lawsuit, recounting conversations with his former boss that were, at best, racially insensitive.

What makes the latest vitriol particularly reprehensible is that the NBA has become the model for diversity in men's professional sports. It consistently gets the highest grades on the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport's Racial and Gender Report Card, and former commissioner David Stern last year was hailed for embracing "the moral imperative for diversity."

According to the institute's most recent report card, from last season, 81% of NBA players were people of color and more than three-quarters were African-American. Of the league's head coaches, 43.3% were African-American, the second-highest percentage in NBA history.

(It's worth noting the Clippers current head coach, Doc Rivers, is African-American.)

No doubt Stern is seething at seeing his legacy tarnished. And you can bet he was especially incensed that Johnson, Stern's dear friend who has become the role model for life after the NBA, has been dragged into the cesspool.

"LA Clippers owner Donald Sterling's comments about African Americans are a black eye for the NBA," Johnson said on Twitter, adding that he would not attend another Clippers game as long as Sterling was the owner.

It's naïve to think racism doesn't still exist in the United States, even among wealthy team owners. But that doesn't make it right, and it certainly doesn't mean the NBA should tolerate a neanderthal like Sterling.

If Sterling doesn't want to associate with minorities, Silver ought to grant his wish: Bar him from the NBA. For good.